Hazel who?

A few days ago I was at my dentist getting my braces checked and tightened. It was not even 6:30 pm but the sunlight was already lost behind the night sky. I was waiting for my train home until I was informed that there will be no trains running past Laverton until further notice. It was freezing and all I wanted to do was get home because I had an assignment to start. The bus replacements were nowhere to be seen and my phone was on 2%. I was scared that my battery wouldn’t last long enough to tell my mum to pick me up at Aircraft station but I managed to give one, quick and frustrated phone call telling her to come pick me immediately.

I waited and waited, watching every car that went past hoping that it would be my mum with her friend, my YFC coordinator. From the corner of my eye I saw a girl that I recognized. It was one of my friends. I immediately approached her and asked her how long she’s been waiting for the bus. She told me she wasn’t waiting, she came to pick up her brother who was also stranded at Aircraft. She asked me if I needed a ride home. I panicked because I didn’t know how far away my mum was and she wasn’t answering any of my calls. Fortunately my friend waited for me to get a hold of my mum. When I finally did, she told me she was just about to leave home. Luckily she wasn’t close so I told her to stay put while my friend gives me a lift home.

I came home thankful for bumping into my friend. She saved me perhaps hours of waiting to get home and I guess it was fate and God’s plan that brought us together at that time. I read on Twitter that the reason why there were no trains past Laverton was because of an accident at Werribee. At that time I thought the crash wasn’t a bad one since I frequently read on Twitter of accidents that delay trains and none have been severe lately.

It wasn’t until my mum received a phone call that the seriousness of the situation clicked together. She came into my room and told me that her friend, someone in her chapter (my mum is in a community and she is a chapter leader) was hit by freight train at Werribee. Her friend was in the car with her mother in law. She was going to be taken to the Alfred Hospital after suffering some injuries, but unfortunately her friend’s mother in law died on the scene.

I guess things like that don’t often affect us as much until it involves someone we know. It was a sad thing to hear, but knowing the story behind the accident made it worse. My mum’s friend and her mother in law were going to buy some shoes from a shop called Rivers in Werribee. The mother in law had only been in Australia for a week. On their way home, their car was stuck in the middle of the tracks. The car in front of them wasn’t moving because it had broke down but they weren’t aware of it. The boom gates did not even begin to go down, and the sirens had did not even start to wail. But within a few seconds, the train hit them.

Perhaps they were too shocked that their reaction time slowed down immensely. They did not receive any warning that the train was coming, yet if they saw it they did not attempt to escape the car or as someone in my morning train ride yesterday said, “They should have reversed the car instead of being too focused on moving forward.”

The mother in law was seated in the passenger seat. She took the impact of the hit first which immediately killed her. She was meant to deliver a sharing (speech) at a gathering my dad planned for the Sunday that had just passed. But she never had the chance to deliver it. Her body was not retrieved from the scene of the crash until 1 am. My mum’s friend could have driven around the other side of Werribee avoiding the railway tracks, but it was God’s plan that brought them there. It was her time.

There are a few things that I’ve learnt and was reminded of from this.

Firstly, no one knows exactly how their life is going to plan out. We often waste each day on unimportant things, or we find ourselves stuck in a daily routine that it becomes harder to make each day special.

And secondly, we must cherish our loved ones. We don’t know when we will be taken from this earth; it could happen during moments we least expect. But we should be prepared for the worst. It’s hard to let someone know how much they mean to us if we’re fighting with them or ignoring them. Sometimes we just get too comfortable with them that we take their presence for granted. But can you imagine the guilt and pain you would be left with if something was to happen to them? What would you do if you’ve lost your only opportunity left to express how important they are to you because you’re too prideful and stubborn?

The truth is, life really is short. That’s why it’s utterly important to make each day count and let your loved ones know how much they mean to you.

But don’t forget, be thankful for each day you are still here.